Chasing the Sunset
by morte marisco
Summary: When Kurenai is reported missing after the war, Team 8 take it upon themselves to go out and find her.


**Chasing the Sunset**

**Chapter 1**

**Run Away and Never Look Back**

Hinata awoke to the distant rumble of thunder and a pitch black sky. A cool breeze drifted through the open door of the Hyūga clan's temporary residence, pushing away any remaining thoughts of curling up in her bedroll and drifting back to sleep.

If she didn't leave now, the chance of getting away without being seen would narrow substantially as dawn approached.

Activating her Byakugan, Hinata scanned her surroundings. Everyone present, including the watchman for the night, was asleep. Beyond the designated Hyūga clan area, there was nobody about. No one to see her leave, or question her as to why she was away from home at such an hour.

She slipped out of her bedroll as quietly as she could manage so she wouldn't wake any of her clansmen. Hands moving though seals, she created a moderately powerful smoke clone and had it slip into her bedroll, feigning sleep. It wouldn't rouse suspicions for at least a few hours as long as no one went sleepwalking over it. There were a few Hyūga guilty of such night activities.

Heading out into the night, she made her way quickly and silently across rooftops and empty blocks of land, until she reached the small townhouse that belonged to her genin sensei, Kurenai Yūhi.

It looked the same as it had the day they left, except for the yellow police tape criss-crossing the front door and window, and the dead flowers in the pots around the wooden bench under the window. They had been the tip-off that something was wrong because Kurenai was very attentive to her garden. Pregnant kunoichi were removed from field missions until the birth of the child, so the genjutsu mistress was left with more time for herself. Assuming that she was not going to move from the house assigned to her for years to come, she had decided to expand her garden, something which Hinata and Ino were more than happy to assist with when time permitted it.

When the Lady Nara was made aware that something was amiss, she went over to her home only to discover that Kurenai was not there and most likely hadn't been for quite some time. The reports that Shino had had somehow 'borrowed' from the civilian police force stated that there was no forced entry or signs of a struggle. It was as if she had simply left on a whim.

Until a further investigation could be made, the house had been taped off and all were barred entry.

With no Hokage and no decent candidate or heir to the title, Konoha was currently under the rule of The Council, who had informed them of the situation once the remaining shinobi forces had returned home after the war. It was days after their return home and by then, both the old Team Eight and Team Ten had found out for themselves, but the Council had ordered them not to go out and find her.

Had it not been for Shikamaru's shadow binding technique, Kiba would have gone for Lord Mitokado's throat. That would not have ended well for anyone.

Scanning the area with the Byakugan, she could see the nearest patrol unit was six blocks away and slowly heading towards the west gate. Neither of them were sensor types either, so evading them would be that much easier if they were to come back before she and her team left.

Looking further around her, she could see Shino approaching from the south wall, jumping across rooftops, while Kiba and Akamaru were coming from the north, running through the darkened streets, all three dodging patrol units with ease.

Judging from their distance that they would be by her side within the minute, Hinata focused her attention to the interior of the townhouse. Just like many other single shinobi and civilians, Kurenai had only the bare basics inside her home. A bed, crib and wardrobe in the small bedroom at the back, a table with three mismatching chairs, a well used couch made up the living and dining room, and the kitchen was merely a stove, a sink and a cabinet built into the side wall.

Nothing seemed out of place. Whether that was a good or bad thing, Hinata couldn't decide.

Soundlessly, Shino landed beside her, just as Kiba and Akamaru slunk out of the darkness to her other side. Hinata waited for them to finish their own check on the area before speaking. "I couldn't see anything unusual."

The insects that had gathered on Shino's silent command dispersed. "Several people have come here since the last investigation. All of them were shinobi that were friends of Kurenai-sensei. They have also been looking for information of her whereabouts."

With a snort, Kiba dismounted his dog. "There's too much to smell out here. I'm going inside."

In a puff of smoke, the boys were inside, leaving Hinata and Akamaru outside to act as lookout. Tracking Kurenai by scent would be the only option until

Shino released a swarm of kikaichu to scour the house for anything that could be of use, keeping his eyes on Kiba as he sat on the floor, crossed his legs and closed his eyes. Chakra started to flow faster around his system, moving towards his face.

Through her Byakugan, Hinata watched with concern as Kiba continued to channel more chakra to his nose. His normal sense of smell was already incredible, even among the Inuzuka, and he could pick his way through scents to find the one he was after with little difficulty, as long as he knew what or who he was looking for.

There was a drawback to his amazing sense of smell, one that he had not told them about until their team had witnessed it themselves just over a year ago.

If he channelled too much chakra into his nose for a prolonged period of time, it would put too much pressure on his brain and eventually destroy it. Maxing out his olfactory system was too dangerous to be used frequently. The way he had not really explained it to them so casually, while bleeding profusely from his nose and ears, had caused Hinata some distress in the days that followed. She had been meaning to ask Hana for a proper explanation, as her medical expertise would fill in the gaps that Kiba had left out, but the few times the two had crossed paths, one of them was too busy to chat or it had slipped her mind completely.

It was the equivalent to overusing the Byakugan, like Neji had done during the war. Exhaustion had prevented him from being able to see properly with his normal vision. It was so bad that he had mistaken Akamaru for Kiba and her for her father. As for whom he saw in place of Shino, who he had tried to kill so viciously despite his fatigue, she would never truly know now that he was gone.

Blood was already trickling from his ears and nose again, the sight of it unnerving her slightly. They've barely started their mission and Kiba was already shedding blood from his efforts. Still, he pushed more chakra into his nose.

Shino, having recalled his bugs from their search, watched their teammate carefully.

Sweeping their surroundings yet again, only to see no one near, Hinata was about to go inside and stop him when he swayed a little too far forward. Catching himself on one arm, Kiba released the stored up chakra and let it flow back normally. Mopping up the blood on his face with his jacket sleeve, he stood slowly, with help from Shino, and the two were back outside in another puff of smoke.

Grabbing his free arm, Hinata helped Shino lead their teammate to the small wooden bench that sat against Kurenai's house, easing him down onto it.

"Soooo many people..." Kiba started, head falling to rest in his palms. Akamaru licked the side of his face, whimpering at his partner.

"Who?" Shino asked.

He started rattling off names, many of them familiar, his voice slurring less as the list went on. Neither she nor Shino tried to hurry him along, knowing that a recovery time was needed before he was right enough to walk without tripping over his own feet. It was also useful information to hear. Who had been in the house around the time of Kurenai being reported missing would help narrow down the list of possible suspects should they find out if someone of Konoha had been assisting some enemies in getting her out undetected.

The list of names ended and made way for the scents that couldn't be attached to anyone of their village. Sea foam, salt, rusted metal covered in aged paper, panda lilies, oolong tea that had some ink mixed into it...

The more powerful scents, the ones mixed in with Kurenai's autumn leaves scent, tracked direct paths from the main gates to the house, then back out through the west gate and finally off towards the coast, moving with the refugees from Yu no Kuni back to their homeland.

Thankfully, there was no trace of blood from Kurenai or any of the people that were in the house, so there was definitely no struggle to get her to leave.

"It's like she just got up and left with them." Kiba started, wiping away the last of the blood with the damp cloth Hinata had offered him when he finished listing everything he could smell.

If that was indeed the case then that made Kurenai a traitor to Konoha and if she was caught by any other team, they would most likely execute her on the spot for leaving the village. Hinata knew that she would never cope with the loss of another precious person so soon after the war. Kurenai meant the world to her, even though she had only known her for just a little over four years.

Questions on how and why her beloved sensei would just get up and leave rolled through the Hyūga's head. The Genjutsu mistress had no hate for the village, as far as she knew, and there was no threat against her unborn child's life from anyone within Konoha. There certainly wasn't a lack of support for her too, with both Team 8 and 10 doing whatever they could to help prepare for the day the baby was due.

A relative held hostage was unlikely, as there were almost no more Yūhis left in the world, and she was not greedy for power like so many others within their village or those who left it.

So if life was all good in the village, what reason did she have to leave? Hinata thought a bit more while Shino and Kiba had their own little conversation.

Overhead, the dark clouds rumbled, and the first flash of lightning hit the trees behind Hokage Monument, blinding Hinata for a brief moment. When the light faded and her eyes didn't sting so much, she hurriedly pulled Kiba to his feet.

"Someone's coming." she said.

The four of them flickered away into the night, just as another patrol team turned the corner into the street, chatting away as they worked their shift.

* * *

A relatively large gap in the town's perimeter guard allowed them to slip by unnoticed, but Hinata refused to turn off her Byakugan after they were almost caught outside of Kurenai's home, even though the telltale headache she was getting from overuse was already starting to form.

Sneaking past guards was not overly difficult, but there were more about despite the loss of nearly half of Konoha's shinobi force in the war. Genin were being assigned delivery missions across countries along with the general D-ranked missions, Chūnin were put to work on construction, Jōnin and Tokubetsu Jōnin were met with the same fate if they had nothing better to do, or were given genin teams to train if they didn't already have one, and the ANBU who weren't tracking the last of their missing ninja were being used for border security and patrols around Konoha. If they haven't caught wind of what her team was doing, it was only by a stroke of luck that they haven't been found yet.

After making the initial plan to make a run for it days ago, they decided to prepare whatever they would need and hide their packs in a scroll in one of the closer training fields in Konoha that hadn't been totally ruined from flying debris during the last invasion. Kiba volunteered to hide the scroll, knowing the chosen field quite well from his childhood. So he claimed.

"Children are not meant to be on the fields. At all. How did you ever get away with it?" Shino had asked him before the Inuzuka had taken his leave.

"Why? Because I was, and still continue to be, the best at hide and seek. How? Because I am an Inuzuka." Was his reply. Then he jump to the nearest rooftop and was on his way.

It was a poor attempt at imitating his speech pattern, but Shino had let it go, deciding that a teasing Kiba was better than a Kiba who was going to rip though the Council to get his way.

For his sake, Hinata tried her best to suppress her giggles.

They all knew that this unapproved mission they were about to go on would have some serious consequences on them all once the Council was made aware of it. Most likely they would be dragged back to Konoha, be stripped of their rank and made to work unpaid missions indefinitely. That would be the minimal punishment if the elders were going to be nice.

Then there was the possibility of being labelled missing nin and being hunted down by their family, friends or ANBU. While Kiba had been quick to blow off that possibility, Shino had said nothing on that idea and Hinata had found herself wondering about it when her mind idled for a moment or two. Thinking about the differences in bounty rewards and which one of them would be executed on the spot were not welcome in the slightest when it came to planning their escape, but the dreadful thoughts were hard to shake from her head once they reared their ugly heads.

While Kiba and Akamaru went off to retrieve their belongings, Hinata and Shino started discussing escape plans, forcing herself to focus on the matter at hand.

"We should run as far as we can before stopping in any town or city. If there are any nearby teams or single shinobi running missions, the news will spread to them fast and they will come for us too." Shino said, laying out a map of Hi no Kuni. "If all goes well, we should make it to the coast in two days." He pointed to the border that divided Hi and Yu, where a nearby city dealt with exporting goods to the north.

"We could run right through the storm. It will cover our tracks and wash away the scent we leave. No one would be able to follow us for a while." Hinata added. Among all the clans in Konoha that had tracking abilities, their three clans were the best in their field, so if anyone was going to be sent to chase them down, the pursuer would be from one of their own. From past missions together, Hinata knew that Inuzuka and Aburame were not ideal candidates for tracking through heavy storms. The insects would either drown or be blown away and the shifting wind patterns could blow scents out completely rendering an Inuzuka's nose useless. Or lead them on a wild goose chase around the world.

The chances of their first trackers being Hyūga were very high, and they would surely be from the Branch House. She just hoped that she would not have to resort to using the seal just to shake them from their trail.

The Inuzuka duo returned just as they were confirming their first plan and the backup ones, when, at the very edge of her sight, she spotted a change. The patrols that were stationed to the far west had started to gather, coming into larger groups from their two-three man cells, the closest one to them, an eight man squad near the east gate, was heading in their direction.

"We have to go."

Hastily repacking everything, they shouldered their packs and started running. They stayed side by side, making communication easier.

"We need to find a way out. Hinata, can you find another gap in patrols?" Shino asked.

She extended her sight to all of Konoha. There were shinobi standing guard at each main entrance, along with one ANBU hiding close by, the south had a particularly large gap they could squeeze through undetected because the Inuzuka stationed in the guard post had fallen asleep, and a short way ahead of them was the Nara's deer forest, fenced off from the rest of Konoha and heavily reinforced with all manner of tricks and traps. If any outsiders wanted to get into the forest, they had to be accompanied by someone with Nara blood, or risk getting strangled with wire or blown to bits.

It was one of the only places that wasn't regularly patrolled by Konoha shinobi. The deer could do a decent enough job of defending their home just like the Inuzuka dogs could. So the Nara claimed.

"The Nara forest is right ahead and nobody seems to be present. But we can't go-"

"Nara Forest it is!" Kiba declared, veering off to the right.

Hinata shot Shino a worrying glance. Shino merely followed suit.

They stopped in front of a gate with no obvious locks or handle on it. No signs, no tags, no nothing to indicate that it was Nara property they were about to trespass on. It was their only way now. In the few minutes it took the get there, another two teams had formed and were heading in their direction, and, curiously enough, a small group of Genin boys were approaching too.

Rubbing his hands together and gathering chakra into them, Kiba muttered "Hope this works." and grabbed the chain link. Chakra seeped into the metal wires, weaving through the entire door frame, before he let go.

The creaking sound grated against their ears as the gate swung open on its own.

"So, who wants to go first?" Nara's were very creative trap makers. Just because she couldn't see one, it didn't mean that there wasn't one. She was thankful to have learned that the easy way years ago after overhearing a bit of drunken bragging from a Jōnin team celebrating their recent successful mission.

A flat look from Shino had Kiba making a shadow clone and sending it through the gate. After a bit of skipping around to see if there were any hidden traps that would be triggered from passing though the gate and finding none, the group went through and took to the trees.

The boys followed Hinata through the trees, as she was the only one of them who could navigate them around all the traps the Nara had hidden in their forest. It was more of a hassle than a challenge, making the trek towards the north wall longer than it should have been.

The trees gave way to a fairly large clearing the size of a training field. Landing on the soft grass the four continued their trek as fast as they could since the earth beneath them was void of anything that could make them lose limbs. Just as they were half way across the clearing, another bolt of lightning blinded Hinata again, forcing her to deactivating her Byakugan. Rubbing her eyes with her hands, she felt two light pressures on her shoulders, gently guiding her across the clearing.

The winds had kicked up at last, blowing strong gust in from the east and trying to push them back to where they had come from. She heard Kiba cursing the weather to her left. It still hurt to do so, but she activated her Byakugan again. Even with the enhancement to her vision, much of it was still blurry

A flicker of familiar chakra behind them caught her attention, but it was already too late. Shadows had darted out to catch their own and stopped the four of them in their tracks.

"How did you know we were leaving?" Kiba growled to a particularly dark spot in the nearby bushes.

"Lucky guess."

The shadows beneath their feet forced them to stand straight and face their captor as he stepped out into the open. Of the few people who could successfully sneak up on a Hyūga, Shikamaru Nara was one to be feared, even though he was friend.

"So what do you intend to do? Shino questioned, bland and straightforward as always, even though his pulse had sped up a few notches. Her own heart hammered in her chest.

"You might need this somewhere along the way." He said, tossing a small scroll to Hinata.

Gaze bouncing between the scroll in her hand and the boy that had handed it to her, Hinata was at a loss for words. Surely he would not sit back and do nothing to get Kurenai-sensei back, not after he had done so much for her after Asuma-sensei's death.

As if reading her mind, Kiba vocalized her thoughts. "So you're not coming with us?"

"I won't be able to help you on this mission. I'd only slow you down."

And he was right. Even with the few days of rest that everyone has had since the end of the war, the bags under his eyes and his posture said everything about his physical condition. Even binding them to his shadows was wearing him out further. His emotional state was likely to be just as bad with the loss of his father and being forced to fight his dead sensei in the space of a day.

Anger about to boil over, Kiba snarled to Shikamaru "Then say your piece so we can get out of-"

Behind them, a small explosion broke the silence and sent a heard of deer dashing out into the open. The Genin boys had triggered one of the traps near the gate they had come from. The 8 man cell behind them, having also heard the loud noise, broke into a run to find out what caused it.

"Get going. I won't be able to hold them off for long. Everything you need to know is in the scroll."

Releasing them from his shadow bind, the boys eyed each other off. Finally, Shino nodded his head towards the Nara and headed for the trees. Kiba mumbled something that she was pretty sure was an insult and followed their Aburame teammate.

"We'll bring them back." Hinata promised. For some reason, it didn't sound too convincing to her own ears.

The blank look on his face didn't help raise her confidence either. "I know you will. Good luck." It's the fatigue, she thinks to herself, because she doesn't think she's heard him sound so hollow in all the years she's known him.

With a quick bow, Hinata managed a quiet "Thank you, Shikamaru." before running after her boys. Just before she entered the tree line, she caught a glimpse of him heading towards the gate they came through, shadows reared up like deadly snakes and fading into the darkness with him.

Lighting leaped from the clouds to the ground with increasing frequency, illuminating the world around them. They were nearly bowled over by a doe and her fawn, leaping though the trees to find better shelter for themselves, but were otherwise unhindered.

They reached the top of the wall as the largest crack of thunder boomed overhead.

With the next streak of lightning, they were gone.

The rain followed shortly after.

* * *

I've wanted to do this for a long time because there needs to be more of Team 8. These guys need more action and I'm pretty sure Kishimoto ain't gonna let them have another scene since Naruto's gonna end sometime this year. I hope my attempt at mashing words into something readable was decent.


End file.
